


it's the thought that counts

by starciti



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: (radiant dawn's canon anyways), Domestic Fluff, Fluffy Ending, Holidays, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Post-Canon, Snowed In, but ike loves him regardless, soren is kind of a grinch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-03-04 02:20:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13354452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starciti/pseuds/starciti
Summary: “This had better not be another tome,” Soren muses half-heartedly as he takes it into his hands and begins to tear off the paper with precision only he could muster.“Well, uh, about that…”“Seriously?Again?”“Only slightly!”“How can it onlyslightlybe a tome, Ike?”Soren has spent many holidays at Ike's side, so he's undoubtedly familiar with his ineptness at gift-giving. But this year, it's just the two of them; and Ike seems determined that he's finally gotten it right. Soren's not sure if he believes him, but who knows; maybe he'll be surprised for once.(Emphasis onmaybe.)





	it's the thought that counts

**Author's Note:**

> i feel like it's kind of a crime that i've never written any ikesoren before. like, seriously, they're one of my favorite fire emblem ships; probably my second favorite overall! this is illegal!!  
> but anyways, surprise! another piece for the fe holiday exchange! this is a gift for the lovely miyopiyo on tumblr, who was my second giftee! ikesoren was one of her requested ships, and there was no way i could pass up that opportunity - especially when it was for some holiday fluff!  
> but onto the fic, i had this take place after radiant dawn, because i feel like there's so much that can be done with ike and soren's permanent honeymoon of a journey. i've also written soren once before, but never ike - and the two of them are very complex characters, so i hope you can excuse anything that seems ooc!  
> happy reading!

Daein’s winters had always been brutal.

Soren’s spent much more time in them than he would have preferred, but at least it means he can concur with that firsthand. Crimean snows simply paled in comparison; not even the winter storm many years ago that had locked the Greil Mercenaries indoors for a fortnight held a candle to the tempest that was Daein.

“We’ll probably be able to leave next week if we’re lucky,” Ike breaks him out of his thoughts with a brief statement as he gently pushes a mug into Soren’s hands. “or at least be on our way.”

Soren hums softly, shifting the mug into one hand as he readjusts his hold on his book. He takes a brief sip, and is pleasantly surprised; coffee, strongly-brewed with just a hint of sugar. Just how he likes it.

“You say that as if we _are_ lucky,” Soren murmurs, swishing the mug’s contents around absentmindedly. “you know we never have been.”

“Now, don’t be like that,” Ike chides, which is a foreign thought that makes Soren more than a little uncomfortable. He sits himself down next to Soren and throws an arm loosely around his shoulders, which he doesn’t lean into, but doesn’t protest. “it won’t be that long. We’ll be out of here soon, Soren.”

Soren doesn’t say anything, just takes his mug into both hands and shuts his eyes gently. Daein has never been the favorite place of either of them, but they both know the extent of Soren’s distaste. The country responsible for wars that threw years of his life to the wind, along with the actual _lives_ of countless others, and not to mention the homeland of his birth family…

Well, Ike has never blamed him for his hostility, that’s for sure.

Ike seems to notice the sour expression on his face, as he sighs softly and rubs Soren’s shoulder ever so slightly. It’s a chaste gesture, hardly even mentionable, but it eases Soren’s nerves a tad.

“Lighten up a little, Soren. It’s the holidays.”

Soren takes a long sip of his drink before replying curtly: “I don’t see why that matters.”

“Now I see why Mist always calls you a Grinch.”

Soren glares half-heartedly, and a laugh bubbles up out of Ike’s throat as he pulls him a little bit further against him.

“Come on,” Ike says, a grin on his face that Soren wants so badly to be angry at, but just can’t find the strength within himself. “there has to be _something_ you like about the holidays.”

“Not that I know of,” Soren insists. He really doesn’t care enough to argue about this, but Ike’s never been one to give up that easily, so he may as well accept it.

“Don’t you like the decorations? They’re nice to look at.”

“Too bright for me. And why put them up if you’re just going to take them down?”

“Maybe just, you know, spending time with your friends and family?”

“For us, Ike, that would be the Greil Mercenaries, so no.”

“You like them well enough, don’t you?”

“Maybe so. But you know how parties get with them, or at least you _should_.”

“Hmm… how about the gifts?”

Soren glances up with half-lidded eyes and raised brows, his expression reading pure skepticism.

“Gifts that I recall are your _least_ favorite part of the holidays, Ike. Don’t be a hypocrite.”

Ike rolls his eyes, but Soren knows he won’t argue. Long have the two of them — and the entirety of the Greil Mercenaries, for that matter — known of their commander’s ineptness at gift-giving. It wasn’t that hard to believe, really — Ike was a kind soul at heart, but often barely managed to stumble his way through social encounters. Something as deceivingly in-depth as getting presents proved to be a hard adversary.

“I still think it would be easier to just _ask_ the person what they want,” Ike insists. “why do you have to be so secret about it?”

“It’s tradition, if I recall,” Soren muses, leaning his head against him ever so slightly. “but at least I follow it, even if I don’t like it, unlike someone I know.”

“It was _one time,_ Soren.”

“One time is enough.”

Ike’s eyes roll again, but he still doesn’t argue. Indeed, Soren had swallowed his pride long enough to follow at least _one_ holiday tradition, and had gotten Ike a gift. A gift Ike’s holding at this moment, actually; it was a mug, wood-carven and pleasing to the eye, that he had gotten to replace the one that had been broken by the giftee. It was simple, yet practical; much like the gift-giver himself.

“Fine, so it happened one time,” Ike sighs. “but I swear, I got it right this year.”

“You’ve been hellbent on that since the holidays began,” says Soren, eyebrows raised. “what makes you so confident this time around?”

“Well, I really thought about it this time. I think it’s something you’ll like.”

Soren just hums; he’s not sure whether to believe him, but now he’s intrigued. Ike takes that as his cue to raise himself from their seat, and when he returns, there’s a gift in his hands. It’s not too big, and semi-neatly wrapped in a way that could only be Ike’s handiwork.

“This had better not be another tome,” Soren muses half-heartedly as he takes it into his hands and begins to tear off the paper with precision only he could muster.

“Well, uh, about that…”

“Seriously? _Again?_ ”

“Only slightly!”

“How can it only _slightly_ be a tome, Ike?”

“Just look at it, okay?” Ike insists. He seems exasperated, maybe even the slightest bit stressed; and Soren wants to question it, but for once, he bites his tongue.

So instead, he busies himself with removing the paper all the way. When he does, he finds that yes, it is indeed _another tome;_ but it’s shaped strangely, bent at the center, almost as if there’s something inside of it.

“This isn’t all you got, is it?” Soren asks. Ike smiles a little bit, his stress seemingly already vanished.

“You already figured it out, huh?” he muses, but nods. “yup, there’s something else.”

“Another tome?” Soren jests as he flips through the pages, and —

There’s a ring, bright and gold, lying flat in the center.

“Ike, for the love of the _goddess_ above —!”

Soren’s hand flies to his mouth despite himself; never has he been one to get overly emotional, but the shock of the moment is too much to comprehend. Ike, on the other hand, seems completely and utterly unfazed as he leans his weight onto one knee, kneeling in front of Soren in a way he thought no one ever would.

Ike gently tugs Soren’s hand away from the gift and holds it gently in one of his own; a gesture Soren has never been particularly fond of, but doesn’t have the strength to argue with now.

“Soren,” says Ike with a smile. All his anxiety seems to be gone with the harsh Daein winds; his expression radiates nothing but contentment.

“ _Ike,_ ” Soren hisses under his breath, though there’s no malice in his voice whatsoever. No, the only thing even Soren can register in his own tone is shock. “you can’t — you can’t _possibly_ mean to —”

“Soren, I love you,” Ike interrupts, and Soren bites his tongue with a start. “I’ve loved you for all my life, even if I never knew it. That, at least, I hope you know.”

“How could I not?” asks Soren. It was meant to be facetious, but his voice cracks near the end of it, and any hopes of his composure staying together are quickly falling apart.

Ike’s smile widens just a bit, but it still manages to tug at Soren’s heartstrings. “I can’t imagine a life without you.”

“Unsurprising,” Soren manages to choke out, his voice hushed. “you’d likely be dead within minutes.”

Ike laughs, that warm, brilliant laugh, and Soren swears his heart is going to jump out of his chest. It’s a foreign feeling, uncomfortable at best — but somehow, he doesn’t mind it.

“Well, that’s just one of the many reasons I need you by my side, isn’t it?” Ike inquires, and Soren all but holds his breath when he sees him pick up the ring with two fingers. “but you’re smart, Soren; smarter than I am, at least, though that’s probably not much of a comparison. But either way, I’m sure you must know what I’m asking, so…”

Ike looks up at him, and for a single, painstaking moment, their eyes meet.

“Will you?”

Technically, Ike didn’t even ask him the question outright, but even the two words he speaks are enough to strip him of his words entirely. It takes him a few moments before he can piece together some semblance of a response.

“You,” Soren says with a sharp intake of breath. “are _impossible_ sometimes, you know.”

“As I’ve been told.”

“Really, this is just — it’s _too much,_ Ike. Could you not just offer the ring by itself? Was the tome really necessary?”

“It was kind of a backup. If you said no, then at least you’d still get a present, right?”

“And what makes you think I’d say no?”

Ike blinks, confusion spreading across his visage; clearly, that wasn’t the reaction he was expecting.

“So, um…” Ike says slowly, as if he’s afraid of saying something wrong. “does that mean…?”

“ _Yes,_ Ike, just — just give me the damn ring.”

His response is sharp, and seemingly uncharacteristic, but he can’t help it. Emotions have never been his strong suit, and if he says much more he may start crying, which would _not_ be favorable.

It’s more than enough for Ike, though, if his grin is any sign of it. Gently, he takes the ring in two of his fingers and pushes it onto Soren’s own, and just the sight of it there is enough to make Soren’s eyes sting.

“Well, that settles it, then,” Ike says. His words are casual, but his voice is radiating with happiness. “happy holidays, Soren.”

“Oh, _hush_ , Ike,” Soren hisses, leaning forward and pressing his forehead gently against the other’s. It’s a foreign action, but one that they both welcome. Ike hums slightly, but there’s a glint of mischief in his eyes; one that Soren knows means he has something up his sleeve.

“As you wish,” Ike says, and kisses him without another word.

Kisses have always been strange to Soren; they’re uncomfortably intimate, and it’s taken a long time for him to accept them without any kind of discomfort. But now, he welcomes the feeling of Ike’s lips on his own without a shadow of a doubt; and he knows he’s crying now, he can _feel_ the tears slipping down his cheeks, but he doesn’t find it in himself to care.

Ike, on the other hand, is another story; when he pulls away to find him crying, the worry returns to his face tenfold.

“Come on, don’t cry,” Ike says with a frown. “this is supposed to make you happy.”

“I know _that,_ you idiot,” Soren manages to choke out, wiping his tears away with a violent stroke of his palms against his cheeks. “I _am_ happy, Ike. I just…”

Ike takes one of Soren’s hands in his own and holds it tenderly.

“I’m not going to leave you, Soren,” Ike says gently, kissing the back of his hand. “you know that.”

Soren wants to argue that he will one day — the dragon blood in his veins has confined him to a fate of hundreds, maybe _thousands_ of years of life after Ike is long gone. But for once, he swallows his pride and holds his tongue, and just buries his face against Ike’s neck without another word.

Ike has no qualms with this, and leans the side of his head against the top of Soren’s.

“So, what do you think? Did I get your gift right?”

A laugh bubbles up out of Soren’s throat; it’s short, and mostly skeptical, but surprisingly genuine.

“I think you managed it,” he muses, eyeing the golden band on his finger. He’s never been a man for jewelry, but he thinks he can make an exception. “but I don’t see how you’re going to surpass this next year.”

Ike just grins and presses a soft kiss to Soren’s cheek, his expression filled with nothing but amusement.

“I’ll find a way,” Ike insists in a soft murmur against his cheek. “only the best for my husband, after all.”

_Husband._ If Ike’s affections had been a tug on his heartstrings, this was a harsh wrench to them. He must have tensed up a bit too much, because Ike’s brows furrow with concern.

“Soren? Something wrong?”

“I love you,” Soren all but gasps. It wasn’t what he had meant to say, but he can’t say he regrets it; after all, he knows it’s true. Ike knows it too, if the little smirk that tugs at his lips is any indicator.

“Mhmm,” Ike hums, resting his chin atop Soren’s hair. “I love you, too.”

Soren says nothing, but he doesn’t feel as if he needs to. Sitting here in Ike’s arms, the silence seems to say it all.

In the end, it’s a little over two weeks before they get to leave Daein — but with a promise wrapped around his finger and his fiancée at his side, Soren can’t find it in himself to care.


End file.
